Several hundred people gathered this Sunday at 2 p.m. in tribute to Eric Masson, the police officer shot dead in Avignon on Wednesday, in front of the Vaucluse prefecture police station.
It was the police unions who had called for this rally, to “meditate” and “honor (the) memory” of the brigadier, they said in a statement posted on social networks.
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- SGP POLICE UNIT (@UNITESGPPOLICE) May 6, 2021
Several Marseillaises, followed by applause, resounded at the foot of the building.
"We have lost a friend, even a brother, loved by all" reacts Bruno Bartocetti, national secretary in charge of the South zone of the SGP Police Unit union.
The death of this 36-year-old police officer, killed on a deal basis, came shortly after that at the end of April of Stéphanie Montfeture, administrative agent at the Rambouillet police station, by a radicalized Tunisian.
She plunged the entire police into astonishment, even anger.
“Citizen March” on May 19 in Paris
Monday, Jean Castex will receive the unions at 7.45 p.m., said the entourage of the head of government on Saturday.
Faced with "the urgent need to protect those who protect us", an additional 10 million euros will be released to "strengthen the security of police stations" and the generalization of individual pedestrian cameras will be implemented "this summer, ”the Prime Minister announced on Friday.
To read also "We feel abandoned": in Avignon, the tongues are loosened after the death of a police officer
“It was the entire nation that stood alongside our policeman's family and here I would like to extend our affection, our support, and also our unfailing support to all our internal security forces.
[…] These subjects are too important for our society and the consideration that I have for Mr. Masson, his family and all his colleagues, mean that I do not want to fall into any form of nauseating instrumentalization ” , assured Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.
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Policeman killed in Avignon: Emmanuel Macron brings his "unfailing support to all our internal security forces"
All the police unions also called for a “citizens' march” on May 19 in Paris, and decided to suspend their participation on May 17 in the “Beauvau de la sécurité”. The murderer of Eric Masson, he has not yet been found this Sunday morning.